For the first time I'm diving into one of Nigel Slater's books (of which I have a few), this one is perhaps less well known (it was to me until I went on a Nigel Amazon Fest).

And as a consequence I don't think I've used it before... The last recipe in the book is for a Lemon Surprise Pudding and it's a recipe that Nigel fears is almost forgotten. It's a bit of a faffy recipe that involves separating the 4 eggs and whipping the egg whites separately...

Thankfully Nigel warns you that when you add the lemon zest and juice to the beaten butter and sugar it curdles. Tick, mine curdled nicely and I ignored it as instructed!

I was supposed to add the egg yolks one at a time, however when I cracked the first egg it broke so I put it all in the food processor. As I'd blown the recipe already I decided to chuck in the other three eggs as well. In my defence, at the same time as preparing this pudding I was also cooking roast haunch of venison, roast parsnips, mashed potatoes and French beans and tbh I think I may have over stretched myself!

Although I was quite impressed with how I'd herbed, baconed and tied this joint - it tasted fab too.

Back to the pudding. Next it was time to add the flour and the 1/2 litre of milk, carefully folded in the recipe said along with the whisked egg whites. Well, they both went into the food processor too...

This is how it looked after 50 minutes in the oven, and still a bit wobbly...

I hoped it was supposed to still be a bit wobbly though as the "surprise" was supposed to be a lemon custard underneath a sponge... For me the surprise was if it would set or not! Thankfully, it set. I don't think the sponge was as deep as it should be but in MOH's words "it tastes alright" - phew!

The verdict

It tasted lovely (better than alright) and was very lemony

I think the dish I used was on the large side

I'd make this again, or actually I'd delegate MOH to make this again and whisk the egg whites separately (as the recipe says!)